Hanson choose Liebherr
Hanson’s coating plant at Kennett, near Newmarket, Suffolk, produces around 150 tonnes of asphalt each day, plus a quantity of dry stone for other road-working requirements. As one of Hanson’s preferred suppliers, Liebherr recently supplied one of their hydrostatic wheel loaders to carry out a range of material-handling duties at the Kennett site.
The Liebherr L524P wheel loader is mainly used to keep the coating plant fed with material and to deal with the aggregate stockpiles. The machine has been supplied with a set of forks for handling palletized products used at the plant, particularly fibre bales and the dye used in the production of red asphalt. To facilitate the changeover from the 1.7m3 rehandling bucket to pallet forks, the L524P has been equipped with a hydraulic quick-hitch that allows the driver to change the front-end attachment without leaving the cab.
Liebherr engineers worked closely with Hanson personnel when finalizing the loader’s specifications. A factory-fitted sound-reduction kit was installed, achieving a low external noise figure of 100dB(A), while a cyclonic pre-cleaner extends the air-filter life in dusty conditions and a high-level air-intake behind the cab reduces dust ingress into the cooling system, which also has a protective cover plate.
Daily maintenance is facilitated by easy access to the engine and the L524P also features an automatic greasing system. A number of safety features have also been incorporated including: high-visibility striping, a BBS reversing alarm, a reversing camera with in-cab colour monitor, blue strobe reversing lights, and a Preco radar system.
